Premier League Darts 2019 - night 5 to Final 23/05/2019

Ive managed too watch quite abit of this competition (live on SkySports)
Format 9 player league for 8 weeks then bottom player eliminated
Weeks 9-15 then bottom 4 eliminated,leaving 4 players to contest the semi-finals,then 2 to the final.
(Anderson injured and pulled out,replaced by player invites each week,they cannot score points,but league player does.)
Recap so farMichael van Gerwen, won first three matches,but Wade ended that run last week.James Wade, only defeat so far to Cross,game good at the moment.Cross soundly beaten by van Gerwen a fornight ago,followed that up with an impressive demolition of Gurney (7-1) last week.Gurney two good wins against Smith and Durrant (invite) but beaten by Price and Cross,Gurney needs a win against Wade i feel and the following week against Wright before playing van Gerwen in week 7Barneveld, two good comebacks from the death to get draws from Wright and Suljovic,but he makes you tired just watching him throw darts and hes persona on stage seems so care free and not one that is still hungry to win,even the tho he still talks a good game,sits bottom.Suljovic, looks a touch frustrated at times and wether hes good enough to progress in this league format is the big question that hangs over him.Smith, limping form a operation to remove a growth in hes leg , did well to reach the UK open semi final last week, sits second bottom , but progression from this position would not be a surprise,but he's next match against Cross might end in defeat.Cross , States hes more prepared for the league than last year,UK open finalist last week,gut feeling is hell just edge Smith out in week 5.Wright, form away form this event in tournaments has been poor for someone ranked 3,and with one win so far,id like to take him on,but not with Barneveld this week.Price , One of the most talked about players this season,and starting to show the premier league suits hes game,unbeaten but 3 draws to date,faces Suljovic, Price has had some costly blips in matches hence the draws.

Cheers Basher.
I'll try and tune in although I find Suljovic a nightmare to watch unless he's speeded up his throw.

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Well hes playing Gerwyn Price whos a great watch at the moment.

And to be honest,it doesnt look the best fixture list this week.I'll probably to myself switch off myself and watch a rerun of the marble world cup on youtube,some great moments,I wont spoil it for you and give you the winner.

Is Gerwyn still a cocky cnut?
He's worth watching in the hope somebody puts the head on him lol.

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ohhh
Gerwyn most of the other pros are with him,the media love him cos there is always a story that comes with him.Think the booing in the Premier League is the most youll ever hear thrown at a player.In last weeks UK open it wasnt to bad for him,but for one moment against a polish player he has previous with.,and he was most gracious in he's defeat to Aspinall in the UK open semi final.Well see,but for now hes darts are doing alot of the talking.

The bookies cant seem to split the two in the Gurney and Wade match,Wade has a very good record in this format to Gurneys one previous entry why he finished 5th.Of the two Wades form is better of late,he reached the Masters final in February , Gurney last 16,both won big tournaments last November,but Gurney aint been past the last 32 in tournaments since hes win.Gurney is ranked 6th to Wades 9th,not conclusive evidence that the money should be on Wade,but after stopping van Gerwen last week and Gurney getting hammered by Cross,you can see why Wade should be favourite,still time for the odds to change.Stat
Draws - 20 matches have produced 7 draws so far.

Quite unbelievably they all played as I thought they would,we also landed the single and the double
Price is a strong character not that I ever doubt that,but to be constantly booed at every match the poor sod deserves a break,jesus!!,from what could hear Suljovic got some from the boo boys too.
Van Gerwen match I didnt mention as he played premier league invite John Henderson,was a great match which ended 6-6,Van Gerwen was 1-7 on for the match,but the matches are short thats why you see alot of toing and froing in matches,so them odds are no good,as ive seen too many players struggle to hold form for the whole match,and even if they do they succumb to the other player hitting a big checkout,saying that this weeks games didnt have that apart from Van Gerwen's 3-0 against Henderson which ended up 6-6 as I mentioned.
Peter Wright im still unconvinced about as I mentioned pre match against Barneveld,he had another set of darts yet again,the performance was good,but Barneveld played as I thought he would and the sky presenters said it too he's hearts not in it.

Next weeks Early thought
Aspinal (invite) v Smith - Aspinal is loving life at the moment after winning the UK open and will be playing in front of a home crowd,Smith seems to be walking alot better now after hes op,but hes form in the league is well below standard having only beaten Barneveld so far,Bookies make Smith favourite,looks a coin flip to me.

Cross to beat Barneveld - Cross win what other result could it be.
Price v Van Gerwen - Gerwen offered at short odds on again,bookies what chance Gerwen at another price.
Wade v Suljovic - Wade easy,sould be,Suljovic can play no doubting that,but as we already know the premier just aint hes cup of tea.
Wright v Gurney - The bookies here want you to back Wright,thats why the offering him at Even money against Gurney who has won just 1 leg in hes last two matches.Neither can be trusted for various reasons.

I caught bits and bobs of it because I was flicking between the football.

I don't like Wade because he looks and reminds me of my older brother who's a hen pecked miserable cnut but to be fair Wade looked the business as he usually does in games where there's not the pressure of a semi or final.
On his day Wade can beat anybody so it's no surprise to see him whitewash Guerney.

MVG and guest player Henderson was a great game although MVG was off his game. It gave the home fans something to shout for though and everybody went home happy lol, I'm not saying it's fixed but it could be worth bearing in mind in the future.

I noticed there was no Anderson Basher, can't see anyway he wouldn't be picked for the Prem league so I'm surmising it's his back problem?

MVG averaged near enough 104 so not bad,hes finishing was slightly off and the 180s well just one,so you could say he was off,but in a short format like this you can be seen to be playing badly when you get reeled again.In post match interviews theres being differences of opinion on player performances by the players themselves and by the tv pundits.
MVG believe me wont give an inch to an opponent,ive listened to alot of hes interviews,when asked about opponents and hes will to win when hes won everything there is to win,he said basically to take it easy or let hes opponent get any confidence from letting hes guard down was a no-no,it was only last week he looked gutted when he didnt whitewash Cross.

On the Invites it seems gimmicky and PDO trying to boost the premier leagues popularity,and some pundits did question its plausibility about it working,but these players your seeing are possibly players youll see in future premier leagues,its good experience for them as lot of players find it hard to adapt to the format.All the invitational players are chosen on location to the venues,so they dont have to travel to far just for a one off game.Alot of the invites if not all have enhanched their reputations and probably made alot of new fans from playing in these matches.

Didn't know about the invites Basher, how long has that been in place and is there a record anywhere of past results?

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Anderson dropped out because of the injury as we said,so the PDO decided on a giving individual invitations to players each week of the first round of games,instead of putting in a reserve to play each week to replace Anderson.

This is the first time this had happened in the premier league,so there is no past history.

Invites score no points and have no affect on the league table.League players do score points against invites,so winning ,losing and drawing does have an affect on were they finish in the table.

Night 14 is in your neck of the woods slick at the Manchester Arena.
Ohh no maybe I shouldnt have mentioned that,you aint going to stand outside with your instrument in one hand and instrument box on the floor,trying to earn few quid ar 'yah

More stats Suljovic has averaged higher than hes opponent in all hes five matches so far,but has just one victory.
Wade got the highest average 109 he was awesome in week 5.
This could be of interest in the most 180s market as the Invites have scored more 180s in 4 of their 5 matches so far.Aspinal the invite playes Micheal Smith whos had the most 180s in hes 5 matches at an average of 3.60 180s a match.

The draw odds in the most 180s for the above match is 9/2 which looks good.

Wade is such a let down(cost me my double),had hes two wins in the league and now its already come to a crashing top.Watching hes odds all week,thought was no one backing this sod against Suljovic,I know now that I was the only lemon that thought he was the real deal this time round.Gives a good interview,but can he back it up,no he sodding cant.Hes got the other clown Wright next week,doubt the odds all move on this one,crystal ball time for this match.I can even see how the post match interview will go,the winner will give it "Yeah played well,am im going to pushing on from this" the loser " oh I can do alot better,I know I can,just a blip" Wright world no3,hes a joker in this format,2 wins in 6 matches and hes only won 3 more legs than hes lost.Sod em both,I aint backing neither again the premier league,against maybe

Smith got the job down against invite Aspinal,might be pushing for a top 4 place,3 at a push.
Price , soundly beaten by Van Gerwen,can still make a bid to stay top 4.
Cross , moves on again , and looks most likely to follow Van Gerwen in second ,but possibly good enough to steal 1st if Van Gerwen slips up.
Wade and Wright,every week to the end of stage 1 and stage 2 its just going to be a mix bag with these two.
Suljovic beat Wade this week,is that the begin of a push forward?,still a very long shot.Todays win doesnt prove alot.
Gurney will be going out after stage 2.
Barneveld all but gone

if Price beats Cross, and we get a winner in the Wade/Wright match we going to have a three way tie for second.Should by some miracle Gurney beats MVG we'll have a four way tie at the top.

Smith to beat Suljovic maybe next week,see if theres any money for him first.

Only caught the last match and Wright screwed up by letting Gurney nab a point when he was 6-4 ahead, darts were very poor though.
I believe Price was being an arse again which pumped up MVG to thrash him lol, would have loved to have seen that one.

Only caught the last match and Wright screwed up by letting Gurney nab a point when he was 6-4 ahead, darts were very poor though.
I believe Price was being an arse again which pumped up MVG to thrash him lol, would have loved to have seen that one.

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That was poor from Gurney and Wright,Gurney has the excuse of being in pretty form as I said earlier,Wright well the set he played with yesterday was a set he used back in 2015,I bring this up because he keeps changing hes darts then he keeps refering back to these,well why doesnt he stick with them,you dont go back to something you dont like.

This match your saw some the darts going low,thats when a player drops hes elbow in the throw.When you see the darts pushed left of target,thats the player trying to force the dart in.

These players bulid a throw that they repeat week in week,nothing changes.When you lose confidence and belief in your throw hence the errors creep in.

Even MVG at the begin of hes match he was throwing slower and didnt look himself,but once he got hes throw up to speed,he just runaway from Price.

Next week
Price v Cross - Cross will start FavWade v Wright - Think Wade will win,Wade lost to Suljovic,but Suljovic got in Wades head by playing at a snails pace.Mvg v Gurney - Mvg big odds onSmith v Suljovic - Now Suljovic slowed everthing down and got in Wades head,he wont have the same luck against Smith,Smith was a thicker skin and mentally stronger than Wade,Smith wins.
Last up is Hopp (invite) v Barneveld - ive no interest in this match,nor will i be watching it.

Really Really strange the odds for Wright v Wade
Wright two wins against rock bottom Barneveld and Lennon (invite) slipped up and let Gurney in last week is fav to beat Wade.Wade beaten Van Gerwen and whitewashing Gurney makes better reading than what Wrights achieveed so far,even with the lame performance last week against Suljovic and hes game spoiling slow play.Wright changing hes darts last week he went back to a 20g barrel from the previous weeks 26g.

Wade to beat Wright looks a fair call.
Barney might sense a touch of hope,runner up to Lewis in a pdc floor event last week,might want to save face and try to beat Hopp who will have the backing of the home crowd,seeing as second bottom Gurney has Mvg.Take Barney on the h'cap.

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